In a post on Variety's Festival Blog, The Circuit, Steve Ramos writes about the unique launch and partnership Miramax is doing with the Heartland Film Festival and their film "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas".

Battsek approved the call to partner with the 16-year-old festival on a single-night, 31-city screening program to promote "Boy in the Striped Pajamas" to Heartland partner organizations like the Boy Scouts of America in an attempt to build national awareness for the film.

This type of re-imagining of the film festival is critical these days. Hopefully other festivals will follow suit and find new ways to increase a film's exposure when they commit to play at a festival. A 31 city simultaneous single day screening is possible even for the Truly Free Filmmaker in these days of digital projection. How many festivals can extend beyond their home base? Festivals have to think beyond their immediate community and increase their reach if they are going to offer filmmakers something truly meaningful.

I would be curious to hear what other festivals are doing to further their impact and partner with filmmakers.

Scott Kirsner, Lance Weiler, Tiffany Shlain and others put together a great program at Pacific Film Archives this past weekend, bringing together folks from the tech, social entrepreneur, and film worlds. There was a lot of great stuff on the new world of DIY/Hybrid Distribution. I imagine Lance will post a lot of it over at The Workbook Project.

This is a nice low angle (i.e. I am not quite so wide in real life -- or rather I still like to think my self not so wide) shot of my "Coffee Chat" with Scott and Dean Valentine of Comedy.com. It captures and highlights my nasal honk quite well though. It's the end of the session Q&A and I rant on the transformation from an impulse to a choice economy of entertainment, throwing in some speculation on the coming Post-Fest Era to boot.

Its that time of the year when filmmakers nationwide get all antsy. Sundance generally starts to let filmmakers know whether their work has been selected for the festival around the end of October. This ritual extends for about four weeks until Thanksgiving gives everyone a break.

Generally speaking, for fifteen years now, filmmakers approach Sundance with a single plan: to sell their film for a big profit. The logic of this singleminded pursuit is non-existent. For several years now, great films with clear audiences screen without getting picked up. The amount the lucky few achieve has been dropping consistently with a few exceptions. Simultaneously, the need to work with the mainstream distributors has been dropping rapidly. One could even argue that these distributors have defined their acquisition strategy so specifically that they need to even bother to attend the festival.

Filmmakers need to recognize that what once was the holy grail now needs to be regulated to Plan C or even Plan D. I wish it wasn't so and I wish many of the filmmakers could walk off the mountain with their wildest dreams of wealth realized. But we all need to recognize what Plan A and B really should be these days.

Plan A has got to be that you will need to be the leading force in the distribution of your film. This is the DIY model.

Plan B is that various experts will all want to work with you on Co-Distributing your film, albeit for a fee.

Plan C is that buyers for different media will want your film and you need to be able to evaluate how to mix and match these offers -- or even accept those offers at all.

Plan D is that someone will make an offer of such an amount that it is worth considering giving up all your rights to your film for the next twenty years.

There are many aspects of each plan that need to be considered in addition to these various plans. I will be doing my best to examine these aspects in the days ahead. Although Plan D doesn't really need any further thought than where to find a good lawyer; the indie world has relied on this plan long enough.

In September, Christian Gaines wrote a provocative two-part article for Variety speculating on a new business models for film rights holders in terms of how they use film festivals. It's required reading, and certainly got me thinking.

Of course, the film festival model will always serve some film very well. But diverging interests may mean that film festivals necessarily become a much less essential element of a filmmaker’s strategy for promotion and distribution. Just as we seem to be entering a “post-distributor” environment in which filmmakers eschew rotten deals and embrace DIY, we may be witnessing the emergence of a “post-film festival” environment as well.

A new model needs to be found for filmmakers choosing (or having no other option than) to hold onto their rights.

Festivals can be a great way to heighten awareness for your film, but generally only in the local community where the film is playing. To make matters worse, many festivals these days are over-programed and as a result the films simply get lost and overlooked. The festivals and the communities make money on the sold out shows but not the filmmakers. With only a few sales happening and then only at the highest festival level, filmmakers can't be attending with the hopes of a deal? So how can festivals be utilized by the Truly Free Filmmaker?

It would be ideal for local festivals to initiate deals with local theaters so that prize winning films would get an automatic one or two week booking three or four months after the festival. I have to imagine this is done somewhere already but frankly I am clueless as to where.

It would be ideal for colleges and community centers in and around the local festivals to agree to bring filmmakers and their films out to lecture one or two months after winning at the festival. This would allow for some local publicity to be done in advance of a future booking.

The most natural fit for regional festivals and TFFilmakers is for the filmmakers to use the festival to launch a specific DVD sale directly at the festival. At the very least they could take pre-orders.

I found it very exciting when Slamdance announced this year that certain films would be available for streaming directly after their festival premiere. When I have heard of a film playing a major festival, that is when my "want-to-see" is at its highest. Six months later another 50 films have moved ahead of it on my queue. TFFilmakers have to strike when audience desire is highest.

SF Film Society Blog

These gams graced the #SFIFF stage some four springs ago, and they'll be strolling their way back into this year's Festival lineup. We will make our first program announcement TOMORROW! Find out who owns these lovely blue tights and be at the ready to purchase tickets to this awesome Live & Onstage event. #SFFSmembers: you get first crack at snagging a seat. Not yet a member? Consider joining the Film Society. Trust us, no one belongs here more than you.

#TBT: San Francisco International Film Festival founder Irving Levin just before the second-ever #SFIFF (1958). This spring, we are proud to attach his name to the Festival prize that has honored him for so many years. Our Founder's Directing Award — presented in recent years to legendary filmmakers such as #RichardLinklater, #SpikeLee & #FrancisFordCoppola — will going forward be known as the Irving M. Levin Directing Award in memory of this passionate and driven Bay Area film exhibitor.

Last week, we announced the finalists for our #DocumentaryFilmFund, a competitive cash grant that supports post-production work on nonfiction films. We selected 11 outstanding projects after combing through more than 300 apps — read about these films on @indiewire at bit.ly/DFFfinalists2015. In the meantime, a #TBT to one of last year's grantees, #TomorrowWeDisappear. The doc follows a magician, puppeteer and an acrobat — all members of a small artist colony tucked away in New Delhi — as the neighborhood they inhabit begins to attract real estate developers and eviction looms on the horizon. Read more about past winners and the various ways that #SFFSsupports doc & #indiefilm at sffs.org.

#TBT: #SpikeLee & #DannyGlover at #SFIFF 29, for the world premiere of Lee's film She's Gotta Have It. Over the years, we've screened a variety of Lee's work, from his graduate school thesis film We Cut Heads to to his 2006 doc about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem In Four Acts. We also honored Lee at SFIFF 50 with the Festival's prestigious Founder's Directing Award. Love this filmmaker? His latest, #DaSweetBloodOfJesus, opens at the #RoxieTheater tomorrow!

#SFIFF 58 is just down the road! This year's Festival will run from April 23-May 7, and we will release our full program roster on March 31. In the meantime, stay tuned: a few select special events will be announced in advance. #SFFSmembers get first crack at purchasing tickets to all Festival programs. Not a member? Join now and beat the #SFIFF rush. Photo: #TheAmazingCatfish by Claudia Sainte-Luce (SFIFF 57).

Animator #TommMoore engaged in a live drawing demonstration at a local elementary school. Moore screened his #AcademyAward-nominated film #SongOfTheSea for nearly 300 Bay Area students through the SFFS Education program just a few weeks ago. Learn more about his visit with us and about our time with legendary Disney animator #GlenKeane on the Film Society Blog at blog.sffs.org.

Get YR hair did and head over to the #AsianArtMuseum this Thursday night! Their latest exhibition Seduction: Japan's Floating World kicks off with an awesome opening night party DJed by Proof (AKA @markyenriquez) and peppered with installations & performances by artist & sexuality educator @planetmidori. #SFFSmembers: want to join in the fun for free? Email community@sffs.org by 5p tonight with your name & member number for your chance to win a pair of tickets. Subject should read 'Courtesans & Cooks' & body should include reason why you want to go! Image: Courtesan promenading under cherry blossoms by Katsushika Hokuun, John C. Weber Collection. #TheFloatingWorld

Filmmakers: this is your final weekend to apply to the SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grant! Get your materials together & submit by Feb. 17. This award funds narrative feature films in all stages of production. In addition to cash prizes, grantees receive one-on-one project consultation, fundraising assistance and access to the full suite of filmmaker services at #SFFS. You need not be local to apply! Pictured: #MosquitaYMari, a film about the evolving friendship between two Chicana high schoolers in Los Angeles, 2011 grant recipient. #SFFSsupports #indiefilm

Very saddened about the passing of journalist #DavidCarr. An amazing writer & forward thinker. Honored to have screened #PageOne: A Year Inside the #NewYorkTimes at #SFIFF 54, #AndrewRossi's in-depth portrait of the paper as it began transitioning into the digital era. Carr became the unexpected star of this film, and came to life on screen as a champion of the Times and an early adopter of new media. His voice will be missed by NYT readers & film lovers everywhere.

Filmmaker #AndrewRossi at #SFIFF 54, just before we screened his documentary #PageOne: A Year Inside the #NewYorkTimes. Journalist #DavidCarr became the unexpected star Rossi's film, and came to life on screen as a champion of the Times and an early adopter of new media. An amazing writer and forward thinker, Carr will be missed by NYT readers & film lovers everywhere.

In anticipation of this Friday's release of Boyhood with the filmmaker returning to SF for a round of Q&As, watch the onstage interview with Richard Linklater and Parker Posey and Boyhood Q&A from An Evening with Richard Linklater at the 57th San Francisco International Film Festival!

The San Francisco Film Society wrapped its 57th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 24–May 8) with 263 screenings of 168 films from 56 countries, which were attended by over 300 filmmakers and industry guests from over 20 countries. Over 15 days, SFIFF57 showed 74 narrative features, 29 documentary features and a total of 65 short films. See all the highlights and photo galleries!

Last night, the 57th San Francisco International Film Festival announced the winners of the juried Golden Gate Award and New Directors Prize competitionsat an event held at Rouge | Nick’s Crispy Tacos. This year the Festival awarded nearly $40,000 in prizes to emerging and established filmmakers from 13 countries around the globe!